


next year

by KicktheMatt



Category: Dragalia Lost (Video Game)
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Prompt!, Forgotten First Meetings, Green Eyed Epiphany, M/M, but its all good!!, kinda on that last one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-12 05:16:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21228911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KicktheMatt/pseuds/KicktheMatt
Summary: based on a tumblr prompt!Ku Hai would always come back to Peng Lai.





	next year

As the tide washes in, crashing up the peaks and swirling around chaotic rock, so will Ku Hai return to Peng Lai, sure as the tides and the rise and fall of the water.

He couldn’t remember a time where he didn’t know Su Fang. The pyroblossom technician had always been around, always somewhere in the depth of his mind, no matter where Ku Hai had wandered to. As sure as the tide will come in, as sure as the winds blew. He always came back home, no matter how much he vehemently denied seeing Peng Lai as _home_.

His mission to find Haoran turned up fruitless, yet the information he had gathered proved worthwhile. So he allowed himself the means so return to Peng Lai, more and more each year.

“Ku Hai!” A voice rang, shooting into the air, exploding with myriads of colors. “It’s not even the Lunar New Year, and you’re back already?” A broad smile was plastered upon Su Fang’s face. He had run from the Pyroblossom he was working on, pieces of paper-mache and powder dusted upon his face and hands.

It was endearing, to say the least. Powders upon his cheeks and nose reminded Ku Hai of younger times, when Su Fang was still under the training of his father. That was a long time ago, so long ago…

Ku Hai couldn’t help the ghost of a smile that emerged at the thought. “I figured I would come back, if only for a moment.”

Su Fang’s beam only grew wider, then fell into a warm, content grin. “I’ve missed you,” He said, sure of himself. Full of confidence. He was always an assertive one, Su Fang. Never afraid to speak what he felt. Ku Hai was never that good at processing such forward outbursts of emotion.

“Ah--” He said, caught completely off-guard. It was still a strange idea that anyone could _possibly_ harbor that strong of a feeling, to _miss_ him. He had been alone for so long, the only company his sword and his will. 

“But that’s beside the point, Ku Hai! I have plenty to tell you,” He reached forward, grabbing Ku Hai’s sleeve, tugging on it. “I have a whole new Pyroblossom design and I want some input…”

Ku Hai felt himself being pulled in the direction of Su Fang’s workshop, a child-like, exuberant smile upon his face.

The warrior felt the background transition to another time, a simpler time. That same child-like excitement pulling on his sleeve, but Su Fang was much younger, as was Ku Hai. 

“_Ah,_” Ku Hai thought, “_This is how I met him, wasn’t it?_”

The scene melded back into the present, into the workshop, where hundreds of parchment scrolls scattered upon desks and the ground occupied every square inch that wasn’t littered with Pyroblossom remains.

“You’ve been busy, I see,” He commented, looking towards Su Fang with a small smile.

Su Fang nodded, excitedly. “Of course! I’ve been drafting new designs for the next new year, here, let me show you this one--”

His eyes shined with absolute joy as he grabbed a scroll, unrolling it, holding the ends down to expose the ink written upon it. Ku Hai found his attention was focused elsewhere, rather on the pure delight upon Su Fang’s face as he explained the design. All of the flurried speech and descriptions of the patterns and colors and such of the Pyroblossom flew right over Ku Hai’s head, but he smiled and nodded along as the pyrotechnician explained, anyway. 

And Ku Hai wondered, for a moment, if Su Fang had this same amount of passion for anyone else. It was a fleeting thought, gone as soon as it arrived, yet it struck the slightest amount of pain within his chest. 

He wouldn’t act, no. But the more he heard Su Fang babble and rant, the more and more he wished for the same excitement to be for him. Ku Hai would merely listen, nod, smile. The same as he had, long ago, when he and Su Fang had first met.

What Su Fang had said at the last New Year festival rang around Ku Hai’s head for a moment. '_It’s a date._”

“_No, a promise,_” Ku Hai thought. “_Next year, Su Fang. Allow me until next year._”


End file.
